Morse, Stiles Class of 2006 frosh to live in Swing Space

Morse and Ezra Stiles college students will have more in common in 2002-2003 than modern peanut-brittle-like dormitories and proximity to the Payne Whitney Gymnasium. Both colleges’ freshman classes will inhabit the Swing dormitory.

As expected, this weekend the Yale Corporation rubber stamped the recommendation of the University’s Housing Council to fill Swing Space with Morse and Stiles freshmen when Vanderbilt Hall renovations cause a housing shortage on Old Campus. Morse and Stiles students said the decision represents the best solution for an imperfect situation.

“I’ve always thought that Swing Space is the right place for the freshmen to be,” Morse College Council president Elizabeth Arno ’03 said.

Arno said the decision presents a good opportunity for the freshmen to be so close to their colleges. Swing Space is directly across the street from Morse and Stiles.

Arno added that freshmen in Swing Space would have common rooms, which Morse and Stiles — colleges comprised of mostly singles — lack.

Administrators had also considered placing Morse and Stiles upperclassmen in Swing Space, with freshmen living in their home colleges.

The University decided last fall to renovate Vanderbilt over an academic year. Without Vanderbilt, there will not be enough beds on Old Campus to accommodate the traditional number of freshmen.

In informal votes at meetings last month, students from the two colleges decided against placing upperclassmen in Swing Space. Representatives from each college met with Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead and encouraged him to follow the student vote. Morse and Stiles masters and deans had also concluded it would be best to place the freshmen across the street.

But the students to be moved — the Morse and Stiles freshmen from the class of 2006 — have not even applied to Yale yet, so have been absent from this entire debate.

Some Morse and Stiles students said they feel sorry their future collegemates will have to move to Swing Space.

“I think one of the good things about freshman year is living on Old Campus with the other freshmen,” Stiles freshman Samuel Anderson said.

But Anderson said the University made the right decision in not housing freshmen in Stiles.

“I’d rather have the rooms in Swing Space because they’re really nice,” he said.

While some students said they wish Morse and Stiles students did not have to move because of the Vanderbilt renovations, they said they have accepted the decision.